I Love You
by N.V.9
Summary: Your heart already knows. Your mind just needs to accept it. Why do you keep coming here, for only one coffee, every day but one at the exact same time? COMPLETE


**Look toward profile/bio for disclaimer and anything else involving this story.**

In a small cafe, in the middle of the city, worked one petite blonde male with a smile on his face for everyone. The blonde was the one that made going to this tiny cafe a happy experiance. He made girls laugh when their hearts were breaking. He made guys calm down when their testosterone would rise. He made babies smile when they were fussy.

Everyone loved the little blonde but no one knew what his name was. No one knew what he thought or how he felt. No one knew that he was in love with another that came in almost everyday save for Saturdays. No one knew his heart would beat faster or notice the happiness when his love would enter the cafe. No one knew that he always looked forward to seven o'clock coming around just so he could speak to his love for only a few seconds that he took to get his order.

No one knew but one. Only one girl knew all of this and everyday she watched the young blonde who watched his love. Everyday she watched and noticed the blonde smile more when his love came in or when the shine would dull in his eyes when his love would leave.

She noticed when the blonde forced a smile when he wanted to cry as he saw his love with someone else. Sharing a kiss or a touch with someone that wasn't him.

She just hoped his love would notice what was in front of his eyes before it was too late and he lost his blonde for all time to another.

"Hey Hinata, can you take this to table 3?" her cousin Neji asked as he handed her a tray of coffee, "Thanks."

"Of course," Hinata smiled as she went to table three, all the while watching Naruto watching table seven.

~x~

Sasuke was close to screaming as his soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend kept on talking. She was only soon-to-be only because she had yet to give him a chance to open his mouth and end their relationship.

Why did he ever agree to go out with the girl? She was attractive yes, but looks only went skin deep. Her voice was too high whenever she spoke to him and she wore too much pink. He hated pink more than he hated... well he hated everything equally but pink was, by far, the worse thing ever created.

"And so I was like, 'I can't believe you would say such a thing?' Can you believe that Sasu-poo?" Sakura asked, batting her eyelashes. God how he hated that nickname and how he hated her eyelashes. Heck he was just starting to hate her. Maybe she was the reason he hated the color pink. Pink never did anything to him until she came along.

Before she could try and give him another sloppy kiss, he pulled back and called her name. "Sakura?"

"Yes, Sasu-poo?" she smiled, trying to be cute.

"How long have we been together?" He asked trying to remember when he asked her out or, more importantly, why he asked her out.

"Five days." Sakura giggled, pushing her chest or lack of chest against his arm.

"Okay... Sakura I think we should call it quits." Sasuke said waiting for what he knew would come.

Shock.

"What?" Sakura said looking at him as if he grew another head.

Playful.

"You're joking, you almost had me." Sakura giggled again, running her hand up and down his arm.

Denial.

"Sasuke you're joking, right? You love me, right?" She went on when he didn't say anything.

Tearful.

"Sasuke, I love you." She cried into her hands. Her tears annoying him more then anything else. Did he say he hated tears? Well her tears anyway.

Angry.

"How could you do this to me! I loved you and you're breaking my heart!" She glared through the tears. God this was starting to get embarrasing.

Hateful.

"You'll regret this! Sasuke, one day you'll see what you lost!" She stood up and grabbed her almost empty coffee cup before throwing it in his face.

Then gone.

Sasuke watched blankly as Sakura stalked out of the now silent cafe. When the door slammed behind her, he sighed and tried to ease his headache with his fingers.

"Wow... She looked scary." His blonde waiter said, coming up to the table with a dry cloth in his hands. "Here you go."

Sasuke nodded his thanks as he took the towel and dried his face and dabbed at his shirt. Another shirt ruined. How many relationships ended with ruined shirts? Oh wait, all of them. Could he not go one date without his ex drenching him in their coffee of choice?

"Should I bring you another towel?" The blonde asked, wiping at the mess on the table with another towel he had.

"No." Sasuke said standing up and pushing in his chair.

"You know you could save us having to wash so many towels if you broke up with your date at another place." the blonde joked.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted as he grabbed his coat and left the cafe. The coffee was starting to feel sticky.

Behind him, Naruto watched with sadden eyes as his love left him again. Most likely to go and find another person to fill his heart. Just one day he wished Sasuke would look at him. He knew he could give the man what his dates didn't. They only wanted him for his looks, money, and little else. He'd love Sasuke the way one was supposed to be loved. He didn't care about looks. He didn't care about money.

Telling himself that love wasn't roses and sweets, Naruto went back to cleaning up the mess that Sasuke's latest date had created. That that hurt the most was the most cherished. Wasn't it?

~x~

The next day Sasuke went to his normal table at the cafe. Pulling out a newspaper he began to read, ignoring when his waiter came to his table and took his order. He grunted when his cup of coffee was placed down.

As he sat flipping through the pages he was surprised to hear a chair moving back and even more surprised to see one of the other waitress of the cafe sitting there, watching him with her pale eyes.

When she only to continued to stare at him, Sasuke lifted a brow and folded his paper. "Can I help you?"

"You're running out of time." She said with a straight face. Her elbows resting on the table as her delicate hands crossed over one another.

"Out of time for what?" Sasuke asked confused.

"You are losing what you should be protecting." She said, confusing him more.

"What are you talking about?" He demanded already starting to feel annoyed. If this girl was talking about herself, Sasuke wasn't interested. Sure she was beautiful but he wasn't looking for someone right now. After all he just got out of a relationship only yesterday. Not that it hurt him or anything to lose Sakura, but he didn't feel like having another annoyance hanging on his every word. He could be talking about dog poop and they'd be listening to him as if he was telling them his darkest secret. Not to mention they all felt the need to cling. He despised clingy people.

"You're looking for something that is right there." she said standing up.

"Who am I looking for?" he asked, taking a breath to curb his growing boredom for what was to come. She was bound to say herself. The way she was going about this was new, but it would always end the same.

"Your heart already knows. Your mind just needs to accept it. Why do you keep coming here for only one coffee everyday but one at the exact same time?"

"I'm not looking for anything." Sasuke said watching her walk off.

The girl stopped and only looked over her shoulder. With sad eyes she said, "Yes you are."

Before Sasuke could argue she walked behind the counter and disappeared behind the door. Okay, this was completely new. Was he supposed to run after her and demand she date him? As if he'd waste the energy.

But just to be on the safe side of another obsessed stalker, Sasuke avoided the shop completely until he decided he really wanted his favorite coffee. Coffee the way his blonde waiter made it, or so he told himself. Other places didn't taste the same.

Sitting down at his normal table he rested his chin over his hands and remembered what the waitress had said. What did she mean? He was beginning to doubt she was talking about herself, but if she wasn't talking about herself, then who was she talking about?

"Can I get your order?" a guy asked with a notepad in hand.  
"Who are you?" Sasuke asked when someone that wasn't his normal waiter came over to his table.

"Kiba... Can I get your order?"

"Where's..." What was the blonde's name?

"Naruto? He asked for the day off." Kiba said shrugging. "So what can I get you?"

"Coffee...black, no sugar or cream." Sasuke said feeling oddly hurt that the blonde... no Naruto, his name was Naruto, wasn't there. How had he not known Naruto's name? Naruto was always there, had always been there since he had started coming here. He spoke to him, briefly, but still... Naruto always asked his order, even though he must have had it memorized. Sasuke hadn't realized he had come to count on Naruto taking his order. Heck with Naruto not here, he felt oddly hurt.

"Okay give me a sec." Kiba said walking off.

Seconds later he got his coffee but he didn't drink it. As he stared down at his drink he sighed.

"So you're back again." the girl said taking the extra seat.

"I always come here." Sasuke argued.

"Every day but Saturday oddly," The girl said with a tiny smile.

"What does it matter? So I live off a routine, who doesn't?" he questioned.

"So you randomly started to come to this cafe, four years ago, every day and then decided you weren't coming Saturday?"

"What does it matter?"

"It matters and you know it does. Excuse me, I have to get back to work." the girl said standing up.

"Wait!" Sasuke called stopping her. When she turned he opened and closed his mouth a few times. Feeling stupid for what he was about to, and couldn't help but ask. "Where... Where is..."

"Where is Naruto?" She smiled. When he nodded with a slight blush, she went on, "He said he had something to do."

Sasuke watched her walk off again, this time letting her go. Moments later he left.

For the next few days, Sasuke came back to the cafe and, everyday, Naruto wasn't there. Feeling depressed he sat in his seat until closing, only to come back again the next day. Each day was always the same though. Hinata, the pale eyed waitress, wouldn't tell him where the blonde was. Why he needed to know, he couldn't answer.

On the fifth day, he sat looking down at his table as he played with the salt shaker. "Here you are sir." someone said as they placed a cup of his coffee in front of him.

Sasuke blinked and followed the arm up to meet Naruto's blue eyes. "Where have you been?" Sasuke asked before he could stop himself. Feeling the blush covering his face, he looked back down. "I mean..." What did he mean?

"Oh, um, I was taking care of a few things." Naruto answered quietly, rubbing the back of his head. "It took longer then I thought it would."

Sasuke nodded to show that he had heard.

"Okay, um, if you need anything, you know where to find me." Naruto said quickly and walked off. Why didn't Naruto ask him what he wanted? He always asked. Today he seemed like he couldn't get away fast enough.

Rubbing at the pang in his chest, Sasuke watched him walk toward the counter and laugh at something Kiba said.

It was then that Hinata's words came back to him. _'Your heart already knows. Your mind just needs to accept it. Why do you keep coming here for only one coffee every day but one at the exact same time?'_

Him? Could he be coming here for Naruto? He never visited this cafe in his life before that one day four years ago when he heard the blonde's laughter through the open door as he walked by. There were millions of other cafe's that were closer to his own home. He didn't have to go two hours out of his way to get his coffee and yet he did.

He came here every day but Saturday... The day Naruto didn't work. He always came around seven because... Naruto worked from six-thirty to ten...

He never had a relationship for longer then a week and he always broke up with them here... Could he be somehow comparing them to the blonde behind the counter? How had he not noticed this. In everyone he dated, he was looking for something that none of them but the blonde had. How had he fallen in love with a man that he barely spoke to and that another had to point out to him?

Then his thoughts hit him... He was in love. Had been in love since he first heard Naruto laughing. He was in love with Naruto.

Sasuke looked up when he heard the laugh that felt like music on his ears. A smile was forming on his face and soon fell when he saw that it was a red head that was making him make the beautiful sound. A red head that was standing too close, making them only an inch apart. What the...

Sasuke watched in shock as the red head ran his hand through Naruto's hair before he kissed the blonde on the forehead.

He watched as Naruto blushed and took off his apron, waving good-bye to Hinata. The pale eyed girl that was watching Sasuke with a disappointed look as she said her own good-byes. Was he too late? Did he lose Naruto already?

When Naruto left with the red head right behind him, Sasuke took a five dollar bill out of his wallet and left it on the table.

Moving quickly, he looked down the sidewalk and spotted Naruto turning around the corner. As quickly as he could, Sasuke ran after the blonde, calling his name. He couldn't have lost him yet. He just realized he was in love, shockingly as it seemed, and he wasn't giving it up yet. The red head had a fight on his hands if he thought to gain Naruto for himself.

As he went around the corner he crashed into said red head and would have fallen if it wasn't for the man.

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked confused, watching him untangle himself from his new rival for Naruto's love.

"Why are you leaving?" Sasuke demanded, pushing the red head away and sending the man a glare. "Your shifts not over."

"I told them I wasn't going to be there long." Naruto said quietly. "Neji understands and said they'd be fine without me."

"Where are you going?" Sasuke asked, ignoring the red head. If he ignored him enough, maybe he'd get the hint and leave.

"I'm moving. Gaara is helping me. He came to pick me up." Naruto explained as he nodded toward the red head. Gaara, so that was his name. It sounded... stupid. Gaara... Not even worth a third time going over it.

"Moving? Where are you moving? Why are you moving?" Sasuke asked latching on to his arm and dragging him away from Gaara as Naruto's words registered in his mind. Had the stupid red head won the fight already? This couldn't be happening. He couldn't lose Naruto.

"Sasuke? What's wrong? Why are you acting like this?" Naruto asked stopping him and forcing Sasuke to look at him.  
"Why do you want to move?" Sasuke asked quietly, he couldn't be too late. How could he have been so stupid?

"Because my apartment isn't liveable anymore." Naruto explained. "A pipe busted and now it's flooded. I'm just packing the rest of what I can save from there."

"Where are you moving to?"

"Gaara's. He's helping me move what I can." Naruto shrugged as if he didn't have a care in the world. Maybe he didn't. Maybe this was a one-sided love? Could the world be so cruel to do that to him? To make him fall for a guy that loved another.

"Are you... dating him?" Sasuke asked glaring at the red head.

"Gaara? No, otherwise Hinata would kill me." Naruto laughed. "Gaara's like my overprotective older brother."

"He kissed you." Sasuke argued as hope flared brighter.

"That's because Hinata gives me kisses too. They are very kissy people." Naruto smiled. "It was nice talking to you Sasuke but I have to go finish packing. I want to get done before tomorrow."

"Wait!" Sasuke said stopping him as he turned to leave.

"Yeah?" Naruto asked confused again.

"Would... Would you like to go out with me?" Sasuke asked blushing and looking at the ground.

"You want to go out with me?" Naruto asked shocked. When Sasuke nodded, he asked, "Why?"

"Because a pale eyed girl told me I was in love but my mind was just too slow to catch up." Sasuke said blushing a brighter red as he met Naruto's eyes. He knew with Naruto in his life he wouldn't mind being clung too. Heck, he probably be clinging on to Naruto. If and when Naruto became his, he wouldn't let him go.

"You mean Hinata?" Naruto asked raising both eyebrows. "You asked me out because Hinata said... Wait you love me?"

"I'm kind of shocked myself." Sasuke laughed quietly as he bit his lip.

Naruto watched Sasuke with shocked blue eyes. The silence seemed to drag on forever until Gaara came up to them.

"Naruto accepts, here's are address. Pick him up in two hours so he can finish packing up what he needs and then get ready. Naruto I'll finish the rest after you get it all packed up."

Sasuke nodded and took the paper. He grinned when Naruto waved good-bye to him as he was being dragged by Gaara. Sasuke stood there and was about to go back to his car when Naruto ran back and gave him a hug that Sasuke returned happily

"I love you too." Naruto whispered before standing on the tip of his toes and giving Sasuke a kiss on the cheek. Sasuke held a hand to his face as he watched a blushing blonde run off toward a waiting Gaara.

Long after Naruto disappeared again, Sasuke smiled and walked back the way he came. Love, who knew he'd ever feel it? Spotting Hinata waiting outside the cafe, he stopped and gave her a hug. "You knew he loved me?"

"Yes." Hinata smiled.

"Thank you." Sasuke said kissing her cheek and leaving her to get ready for his date. Well the first of millions to come anyway. Maybe he should tell Gaara to take Naruto's stuff to his place. He had to room and that way Naruto didn't have to go anywhere else. Yeah he'd have to get Gaara to do that.

Hinata smiled as she watched Sasuke leave. Behind her, she heard Neji come out. "It's about time. Now you can start working on Kiba and Hanabi." Neji said.

Hinata laughed as she pushed Neji back into the cafe to get back to work.


End file.
